India’s ever reliable test batsman Cheteshwar Pujara recently said that having self belief in one’s ability is the key for any cricketer. Pujara also said that while being out of favor from the management, he never lost hope, and knew that he would get another opportunity. On getting that esteemed opportunity, Pujara scored a hard fought ton against Sri Lanka, in conditions not too ideal for batting.
“I never thought that I will not be able to return to international cricket (when dropped from team). Because, I had a good start and I scored a lot of runs in domestic cricket. So I always had that confidence. There was a time where I did not score runs as expected but that phase is gone and now I am back in form.
“If you look at all cricketers, they go through a certain phase where they don’t do as well as they are expected to but once you start believing yourself and working hard on your game, scoring runs in any game domestic or club game, then you get confidence,” Pujara said.
Pujara opened up about the technical aspects of his batting, and said, “I have the measurement of what kind of stance I had and the distance between the feet. Now I have a slightly shorter stance and the distance is slightly less between the two feet. I discussed it with my father and Rahul Bhai before the Sri Lanka series and came down to the conclusion as to what I wanted to do,” Pujara said.
“Every stance has its advantages and disadvantages. It depends on players’ comfort and kind of technique they have. So each individual is different. Ultimately, most important thing about stance is the comfort,” Pujara added.